1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an image sensor and, more particularly, to a sensor array module with wide angle, and an image calibration method, an operation method and an application for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional technologies, the field of view of an image sensor can be increased by using a wide-angle lens or a fisheye lens, but theses lenses usually have higher cost. Therefore, methods to reduce the cost by combining a plurality of general image sensors to create a wide field of view have been proposed. For example, U.S. Patent Publication Number 2005/0025313 discloses an imaging system, entitled “Digital imaging system for creating a wide-angle image from multiple narrow angle images”, including a plurality of imaging devices. The imaging devices are positioned such that the field of view of each imaging device overlaps that of each adjacent imaging device. The digital imaging system further includes a control module for simultaneously actuating each of the imaging devices to capturing an image with the field of view of all devices concurrently, and the resulting images from each of the image devices are merged to create a wide-angle image.
In this manner, how to combine multiple images to create a wide-angle image has become an important issue. This invention provides a sensor array module with wide angle which combines multiple images by using at least one transformation matrix, wherein the transformation matrix is a relative spatial relationship between individual imaging devices and is pre-stored in the sensor array module. In addition, if the relative spatial relationship between imaging devices can be known in advance, the field of view of each imaging device may not overlap with that of each adjacent imaging device, such that a composite field of view of the sensor array module can be further increased.